A Final Word on the 2008 Grammys (Such as they were)

I've had a little over 12 hours to process it, and I've read over a few other liveblogs of last night's Grammys, so I've come to the following conclusions:

-While Herbie Hancock's big win last night was most likely the wrong call, it's altogether not surprising. This is the same organization that went with Steely Dan over Eminem a few years back, and Norah Jones over both Eminem AND Springsteen...in the same decade. The Grammys have been notorious for being at least 5 years behind what's truly critically appreciated, and it always has their darlings. How else do you explain Alicia Keys getting 2 separate performances during the broadcast, and Aretha Franklin getting a full 8 minute medley? I scoffed when Trent Reznor called the Grammys "Out of touch old men jacking each other off", but after last night, he might have actually had something there. Looking at the list of AotY winners this decade, I count once that they actually picked something close to right (U2 in 2006), and even then it was a band whose career spanned 2 decades outdoing progressive musicians like Kanye West. In hindsight, I don't think the Foo Fighters stood a chance in hell, and it would've been a hard sell for Kanye or Winehouse to win. So basically our only hope is for most of the Grammy voters to lapse into comas or die in the near future before we stand a chance of seeing a change in this pattern.

On the bright side, by the time I got onto YouTube today, there were plenty of copies of the performances last night, which allows for this:

Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats (Live @ the 2008 Grammys) [YouTube] [YSI]
Alicia Keys - No One feat. John Mayer (Live @ the 2008 Grammys) [YouTube] [YSI]
Foo Fighters - The Pretender (Live @ the 2008 Grammys) [YouTube] [YSI]

The copy of "The Pretender" includes Jason Bateman's intro, because he was good enough last night that he deserves to be remembered for it. Also adding YSI links for these three only so they get picked up by hypem.

One thing that didn't get picked up last night:
-Rolling Stone's cover story this week is Britney Spears and her descent into madness. Sean went apeshit when he saw this, but I'm letting it go. I've only read about half the article, but it's far from a typical "Oh, Britney..." tabloid piece that have been the norm lately. It's an actual depiction of her rise, fall, and how it all happened. Does the piece make me feel any differently toward her? Not really. Does it shed light on a story that otherwise has no explanation? Yes.

It should also be noted that after Sean and I had this exchange, I made the prediction that she doesn't make it to 2009. It sounds cruel and I certainly don't hope I'm right, but I defy you to tell me I'm completely off base.

OK. Back tomorrow-ish

==TJ==